# ­xkcd thread **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Tags:** comic-strips\ **Created:** [May 28, 2020, 12:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574 "2020-05-28T00:57:03Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 269
**Author:** ![puzzlegal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puzzlegal/32/3827_2.png) [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2025, 9:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574/5363 "2025-12-30T21:48:11Z")
> [@markn\_1](#): > > If I’m carrying someone on my shoulders, do I temporarily have two heads? Yes. Especially if your passenger says things like, “watch out, there’s a car coming from the left”. ---
**Author:** ![Andy\_L](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c67d28/32.png) [@Andy\_L](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Andy_L)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2025, 10:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574/5364 "2025-12-30T22:45:25Z")
Almost all people have more than the average number of legs ---
**Author:** ![Q.Q.Switcheroo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/q.q.switcheroo/32/5713_2.png) [@Q.Q.Switcheroo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.Q.Switcheroo)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2025, 11:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574/5365 "2025-12-30T23:20:31Z")
Between 1997 and 2007, the average MLB pitcher had more than 10 fingers. ([Explanation](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antonio_Alfonseca)) ---
**Author:** ![TroutMan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/troutman/32/6721_2.png) [@TroutMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TroutMan)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2025, 11:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574/5366 "2025-12-30T23:35:45Z")
Not in 1997-1999, when [Jim Abbott](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jim_Abbott) was pitching. ---
**Author:** ![Q.Q.Switcheroo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/q.q.switcheroo/32/5713_2.png) [@Q.Q.Switcheroo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.Q.Switcheroo)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2025, 1:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574/5367 "2025-12-31T01:42:26Z")
Good catch (heh). I guess [Bob Wickman](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bob_Wickman) also threw off the numbers a bit. ---
**Author:** ![dtilque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d6d6ee/32.png) [@dtilque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dtilque)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2026, 2:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574/5368 "2026-01-01T02:27:47Z")
> **[Anyone Else Here](https://xkcd.com/3188/)** [![](https://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/anyone_else_here.png) ](https://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/anyone_else_here.png) “Anyone else watching this Youtube video in 1954? If so, my last trip definitely messed with the timeline.” ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2026, 9:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574/5369 "2026-01-01T09:51:26Z")
Now that, I liked. ---
**Author:** ![dtilque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d6d6ee/32.png) [@dtilque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dtilque)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2026, 1:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574/5370 "2026-01-03T01:50:08Z")
> **[Conic Sections](https://xkcd.com/3189/)** [![](https://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/conic_sections.png) ](https://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/conic_sections.png) “They’re not generally used for crewed spacecraft because astronauts HATE going around the corners.” ---
**Author:** ![TroutMan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/troutman/32/6721_2.png) [@TroutMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TroutMan)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2026, 2:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574/5371 "2026-01-03T02:50:15Z")
Well, off to [explainxkcd.com](http://explainxkcd.com). I don’t get this at all. ---
**Author:** ![DesertDog](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/desertdog/32/11503_2.png) [@DesertDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DesertDog)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2026, 3:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574/5372 "2026-01-03T03:11:01Z")
[Conic sections](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conic_section) [![](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/1/11/Conic_Sections.svg/500px-Conic_Sections.svg.png) ](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/1/11/Conic_Sections.svg/500px-Conic_Sections.svg.png) Crewed spacecraft don’t really worry about going around the corners because those don’t come back. ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2026, 3:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574/5373 "2026-01-03T03:13:39Z")
Different take than @DesertDog … There are a lot of different conic sections. a circle, an ellipse, and a hyperbola are all legit orbits which are also conic sections. But there’s an implicit bit in the term “conic section” that your cone is infinitely tall. IOW, it does _not_ have a base. If you take a real physical non-infinite cone, it _does_ have a base. And if you cut a cone with a plane oriented such that it penetrates the base, the result is a smooth curve that’s sort of half an orbit, with two square corners at the bottom, and a straight line between the square corners. Any vehicle that tried to follow that sorta-conic section path would experience infinite G-forces as it negotiated the square corners. Which experience would convert astronauts into ketchup. Hence unpopular. ---
**Author:** ![puzzlegal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puzzlegal/32/3827_2.png) [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2026, 3:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574/5374 "2026-01-03T03:29:23Z")
Yes, it’s a joke about the difference between mathematical conic sections and sections of an actual, finite cone, like an ice cream cone. ---
**Author:** ![Lumpy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lumpy/32/446_2.png) [@Lumpy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lumpy)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2026, 3:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574/5375 "2026-01-03T03:50:49Z")
One valid conic would be traveling in a straight line away from the gravity source forever. ---
**Author:** ![Askance](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/askance/32/8281_2.png) [@Askance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Askance)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2026, 4:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574/5376 "2026-01-03T04:01:06Z")
If it followed an imaginary path, would that be iConic? ---
**Author:** ![EllisDee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ellisdee/32/4531_2.png) [@EllisDee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EllisDee)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2026, 4:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574/5377 "2026-01-03T04:55:49Z")
Booo! _\*throws tomato\*_ ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2026, 1:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574/5378 "2026-01-03T13:30:37Z")
I think we should throw ice cream cones instead. Filled with something noxious, not yummy ice cream. ---
**Author:** ![Q.Q.Switcheroo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/q.q.switcheroo/32/5713_2.png) [@Q.Q.Switcheroo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.Q.Switcheroo)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2026, 1:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574/5379 "2026-01-03T13:54:37Z")
As one of my math teachers noted, each of those terms has a counterpart in the field of rhetoric: you can speak hyperbolically, or elliptically, or relate a parable, or talk in circles. (Or make a few points to form a line of argument…) ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2026, 2:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574/5380 "2026-01-03T14:15:54Z")
If I told you that a particular curve had an eccentricity of, like, a million, that would be a hyperbole. ---
**Author:** ![DesertDog](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/desertdog/32/11503_2.png) [@DesertDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DesertDog)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2026, 3:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574/5381 "2026-01-03T15:18:01Z")
> [@LSLGuy](#): > > IOW, it does _not_ have a base That’s what I implied by, “It doesn’t come back,” – no shortcut across the base of the cone. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2026, 11:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574/5382 "2026-01-03T23:00:11Z")
Well, hard to tell from a hand-drawn illustration. Any conic section other than a circle could intersect with the base. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574.md?page=268) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574.md?page=270)